A tribute to Prof Saleemul Huq
Those of us on the weADAPT team want to express our profound sadness at the passing of Prof Saleemul Huq, who was a tireless and inspiring champion for climate change adaptation and capacity-building for vulnerable people and communities worldwide.
A pioneer in the field, he was named on the 2022 OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) honours list for services to combat climate change.
We are grateful for Saleem’s work to support, champion and improve the weADAPT platform over many years. Engagement with Saleem led to increased focus on and expansion of community-based adaptation (CBA) work on weADAPT, helping to lead the launch of its CBA network. The weADAPT vulnerability theme also reflects his influence in understanding and approaching the challenges of climate change and his support for the least developed countries and the most vulnerable communities. Saleem’s work influenced much of our thinking on working with and empowering communities, promoting inclusive decision-making, and breaking down knowledge siloes to address shared issues together.
“Saleem – 'Bhai' or brother, as many fondly and respectfully referred to him – was a much-loved mentor, friend, and source of inspiration to many of us in the adaptation community,” said Sukaina Bharwani, a founder of weADAPT. “He recognised and championed the potential of weADAPT in its earliest days of Google Earth visualization, particularly due to his passion for sharing stories and lived experience from the ground. This made for exciting collaborations early on with him during the CBA conferences he pioneered. These are just some examples of his vision and long-time dedication to support and empower the most vulnerable and marginalized. His work for climate justice was tireless and we all have a responsibility to take that work forward.”
Through his efforts in the Global South on negotiating and financing of climate action, Saleem established a legacy in the climate community and beyond it. This will continue to inspire everyone working on climate change adaptation.
His loss is a loss for us and for all of us working to combat climate change. We send our deepest sympathies and thoughts to his family, loved ones and his colleagues at the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD).
Further resources
- Webinar: Water and Climate Adaptation Strategies – The Case of Bangladesh
- Webinar: Adaptation in deltas - good practices and reaching impact at scale
- The International Conferences on Community Based Adaptation (CBA) to climate change
- Can the Least Developed Countries Count on the Green Climate Fund?
- Ten principles to help assess funding for local climate adaptation
Comments
Last three weeks had an intensive field studies both coast and upper stream of Bangladesh, one of the top five climate change vulnerable countries and repeatedly recalled the great Professor Dr. Saleemul Huq who was our mentor of climate change adaptation and empirical research on Loss & Damage. This year within a very shortage time ( just less than one month) there were two cyclones in the Bay of Bengal ( Hamun and Midhili) which were caused of huge losses of crops and livestock of the people live with very limited goods at the coastlines and survive with fishing. Again my tribute to Great Professor Dr.Saleemul Huq, who had sacrificed his whole career for bridging the policy and practice of climate science.
Md. A. Halim Miah, Director (Research & Development),
Bangladesh Social Scientists Foundation(BSSF)
www.bssf.org.bd
Dear Md. A. Halim Miah,
many thanks for your reflection and for providing an example of your research motivated by Professor Dr. Saleemul Huq's work, which will have an impact on the global community and most vulnerable countries in particular in responding to and in financing Adaptation and Loss and Damage. Bangladesh unfortunately remains at the front line of the impacts of climate change but is also leading critical work in responding to climate change. We appreciate and applaud your work and hope weADAPT can continue to support the adaptation community and share case experience.